What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of St Andrews?For thousands of visitors who’ve descended on the Fife town for the 150th Open championship, it might be the highs and lows of golf and a chance to soak up the electric atmosphere.
But for anyone who has been looking for further inspiration to learn more about the historic town, The Big Bag Trail has been helping people find out more.
Unique designs
For more than a month, unique golf bag designs created by local schoolchildren have been brought to life on a new walking trail navigating its way through the history-filled streets.
Callaway Golf and St Andrews Links have created the new and unique visitor experience.
The Big Big Trail concept began its life when budding artists from two local schools – Madras College and St Leonards – were commissioned to design a St Andrews inspired golf bag that would be used by Callaway staff professionals competing at the 150th Open.
From over 65 submissions, 10 finalists were selected by an esteemed panel of judges that included Callaway staff professionals and senior executives from both Callaway headquarters in California and St Andrews Links.
Wild in Art, experts in helping millions of people experience art outside of traditional settings, were subsequently commissioned to create larger-than-life sculptures of the 10 finalists’ bags that are now forming the trail.
Visitors have been enjoying the leisurely trail, guided by a free-to-download app (Apple and Android versions available), which gives golf enthusiasts and those looking for a walk around the historic town access to a bag-by-bag map via their mobile devices.
What inspired the pupils?
Lily Drage, 13, of Madras College, explained how she came up with her design theme ‘Ren, meaning water lily relating to the designer and the sea.
“My design is trying to emphasise how colourful St Andrews is, the little bursts of colours that you see,” she says.
“I included some of my favourite things about St Andrews: the beach, nature, the cathedral, St Rule Tower, and the Swilcan Bridge.
“I also drew the weather: rain, snow, clouds.
“I think St Andrews is a beautiful place full of colour and I wanted to portray that in my design.
“I also did Nessie and the Scottish flag because everyone loves Nessie.
“My main inspiration for my design was when I was at the beach, I picked up a small leaf that I had found, I held it up against the coast, and thought, ‘this is what St Andrews is to me, nature, the beach, and the other buildings’.
“This is what I think of when I think of St Andrews. I see little bursts, pops of colour all the time in St Andrews from the sky, flowers, houses cards and sun.
“They bring a light feeling that reminds me of music. This is my St Andrews.”
St Andrews sunset
Faith Mackenzie’s design theme St Andrews Sunset can be found at the top of Kirkhill, within sight of St Andrews Cathedral.
The 16-year-old of St Leonard’s School says: “The colour scheme in my design shows off the colours of the flag of the Kingdom of Fife – black and yellow.
“I have focused on these, and added some orange and red, too, to give the visual effect of a sunset.
“The main design is a sunset with a silhouette of St Andrews Cathedral and the lion from the flag blending in behind it.
“I chose the cathedral for the landscape as it is so recognisable as a silhouette on the St Andrews skyline, and the lion adds to the idea of a stylised version of the flag.
“There are also simplified thistle silhouettes on the bag, as this is the Scottish national flower and is widely recognised as such.”
Andrei Moklohov, 16, of St Leonards School, explained that his Auld Grey Toon design was inspired by the “nature and environment in St Andrews”.
“As a basis, I took three colours – grey, which is used as the colour of the wall,” he says.
“This wall was made in the colour of the one that surrounds our school – St Leonards.
“The second colour is grey-blue, and it represents a typical Scottish sky – covered with clouds!
“The third one is green, which takes its place on the very bottom of the bag design and represents the fields near the beach in St Andrews that is right next door to our school.
“On top of my design, I put an image symbolic of St Andrews – the ruins of the cathedral. Everyone here knows them.
“Then, in the middle of the image is the St Andrews coat of arms.
“The main purpose of my design was to make a golf bag that won’t distract the players from the task at hand.”
Meanwhile,‘150 years of Tradition’ by Olivia Sanderson, 14, of Madras College, was inspired by The Open itself.
“The 150th Open is a big milestone in the sport of golf so it seems only fair that it is being held in St Andrews, the home of golf,” she says.
“Whenever you go for a walk in the Scottish countryside, you are bound to see little groups of thistles.
“I feel thistles have a real presence that makes you want to go and look at them a little closer, to study their shapes and spikes.
“Thistles are the flower of Scotland, which is why I have integrated them into my design.
“For me, the key design element is the tartan on the front panel of my bag.
“I chose the St Andrews Links tartan because I believe it really emulates the look and feel of the golf course as well as the vibes you get from the town of St Andrews itself.”
Other finalists
Other designs were ‘150 Opens, 1 St Andrews’ by Lily Driscoll, 16, of St Leonards; History Meet Geometry by Stuart Monks, 15, of Madras College; ‘Sonnet 12’ (from Shakespeare’s poem about time and art) by Anna Easton, 14, of Madras College and ‘The Callaway Swilcan’ by Lixi Chen, 17, of St Leonards.
Also featured on the trail are ‘Tir an Goilf (Land of Golf)’ by Rubie McNeill, 15, of Madras College and ‘Nessie’s Round to Play’ by Iona Turner, 17, of St Leonards.
On Tuesday July 12, Big Bag Trail organisers confirmed 17-year-old Iona Turner had her winning design chosen by Callaway executives and a team of staff professionals, from the shortlist of 10.
The winning design is being used by its 34 players at this week’s tournament.
Iona’s winning design takes inspiration from many of St Andrews’ iconic and recognisable landmarks.
What do the head teachers think?
Commenting on the school’s involvement in the trail, Madras College rector Ken Currie says: “The Big Bag Trail provided a fantastic opportunity for our young people to showcase their amazing talents in our local community.
“Beyond that, our finalists have been afforded a front-seat experience into the exciting world of sport, business and marketing as The Big Bag Trail concept has progressed in the run up to the 150th Open at St Andrews.
“This exciting partnership between our school, St Andrews Links and Callaway Golf has added significant relevance and value to the learning, skills and confidence of pupils from Madras College.”
Simon Brian, Head of St Leonards School, says: “Our school is known for its innovation in all aspects of education, and in its commitment to fostering a thriving community of creativity.
“The Callaway golf bag design competition sparked the imagination and curiosity of so many of our students, and saw an incredible breadth of entries from our learners.
“The remit was in line with the approach to learning they encounter in their lives at St Leonards, that is to say guided and driven by their own individual interests and inquisitiveness, and thus giving them real ownership of their learning and real satisfaction in leading their own process of design.”
‘Overwhelmed’ by submissions
Neil Howie, president and managing director, Callaway Golf EMEA, says: “We were overwhelmed by the number of submissions and quality of designs we had from the two schools, so much so that we challenged ourselves to find a way to celebrate the students’ work in a much bigger way, that also touched both the wider community and visitors to St Andrews.”
Neil Coulson, Chief Executive, St Andrews Links, adds: “The Big Bag Trail is a great initiative to get involved in and we feel it will bring a lot of fun and colour into St Andrews.
“We are thrilled to support such an important cause and to work alongside our partner, Callaway, and so many great supporters of this project.”
Auctioned for CHAS
Following The Open, the 10 larger-than-life sculptures from The Big Bag Trail will be auctioned at a special evening event at the Tom Morris Bar & Grill in the St Andrews Links Clubhouse, with all proceeds going to CHAS (Children’s Hospices Across Scotland) and Scottish Sports Futures (Changing Lives Through Sport).
This special auction will celebrate the community achievements of the initiative, in the company of local dignitaries and specially invited guests and will be held on July 19.
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